Washington’s 1,446 California sea lion records hug salt water from the Columbia River mouth to the San Juan Islands. King County alone holds 344, with Grays Harbor, Clallam, and Pacific counties marking the outer coast, and hauled-out groups and rafting animals turning up at the Seashore Conservation Area, Camano Island, and Deception Pass.
Visitors from southern rookeries
California sea lions breed almost entirely on islands off southern and Baja California, and the animals in Washington waters are mostly males and juveniles that travel north outside the breeding season. That commute explains the state’s calendar. Records surge in April and May as the migrants arrive, collapse in June and July while the southern rookeries hold the population, then rebuild through fall as the northbound animals return to fish-rich Northwest waters.
Pursuit divers that follow the fish
Sea lions here take salmon, hake, rockfish, and squid, diving after prey wherever it concentrates, which carries them deep into Puget Sound and up to river mouths on the coast. The same habit puts them in regular conflict with fisheries, since a sea lion quickly learns that a net or a fish ladder can mean an easy meal.
Status in Washington
NatureServe ranks the California sea lion S4N, Apparently Secure as a non-breeding visitor in Washington. The species is native to these coastal waters, and USGS NAS does not list it as nonindigenous.
Full species profile
